Farewell Z50

I bought my Z50 to try out Nikon’s mirrorless system, knowing that I most likely wouldn’t keep it. I said that I’d play with it for a bit and probably try to sell it while the resale value was still reasonable. That time has come. My Z50 is gone!

Why? Really for all the reasons I outlined in my review articles. The ergonomics were great but the AF system was just too slow and difficult to deal with, plus I already have a camera with the same sensor that is much more capable. I bought a Sony a6100 mirrorless camera and have used it far more than the Z50. Since Nikon has yet to release its successor, it was time to part ways and recoup some of my investment while I could still get it.

I paid $910 for the Z50, a 16-50mm Z lens, a 70-300mm F crop lens, and an original FTZ adapter in March. I expected to resell the Z50 for about $340, sell the 70 – 300mm for $75, and to keep the Z lens and FTZ. At the time an FTZ was worth about $185, so if I subtracted that out my Z50 excursion would cost me about $310. So far I’m doing a bit better, selling my Z50 for $517 on eBay after fees and shipping. If I keep the same values and dock the FTZ down to the $150-ish it’s selling for now, my “total loss” will be $243. That’s not bad for having the camera around to play with for six months.

Now that the Z50 is gone, I’m back to three DSLRs and one mirrorless. I’ll still use the Sony, but will probably get rid of it when Nikon releases the camera I’ve been waiting for. Hopefully it will still be worth something when that time comes 🙂